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2014 Winter Olympic Games Alert: Tickets On Sale Today For Sochi!

US Ski Team star Lindsey Vonn was the first American woman to win Downhill Olympic Gold in 2010 and hopefully she can defend her title. Photo:Wikipedia

Individual tickets go on sale today, Monday February 11, at Noon Eastern Standard Time on a first come, first served basis for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. The games will be held February 7-23, 2014.

I wrote extensively about attending last year’s London Summer Olympic Games, including a cover story for US Airways Magazine in which I explained how to go about getting tickets, lodging and the various venues. I don’t know nearly as much about Sochi, but I do know that the tickets are easier to come by, though as usual, the more desirable the sport, the tougher it is to nab a seat. So if you want to see Shawn White riding high in the pipe, NHL players duking it out against the same guys they play at those rare moments when they are not on strike, or (fingers crossed!) Lindsey Vonn returning from knee surgery to lead the U.S. Alpine skiing squad, you should act fast.

However, there are exceptions to this rule, since every country receives a certain allocation of tickets and some sports are more popular in different places. For example, last summer tickets to martial arts events such as judo and taekwondo in London were still available at the last minute to U.S. citizens, who don’t follow se sports as avidly as Europeans, for whom they were long sold out. In the Winter Games, the same is likely to be true for sports U.S. fans are traditionally less passionate about, such as curling, luge and skeleton.

In any case, there is one official ticket broker in each country, and for the U.S. it is CoSport, the same outfit that handled last year’s summer Olympics. CoSport also does ticket sales in many other countries and is the official U.S. ticket agent for FIFA Soccer. Their sister company, Jet Set Sports, is the official hospitality provider of the Sochi Games, so the CoSport website offers one stop shopping. Right now offerings are fairly comprehensive, with individual event tickets beginning at just $22 and going much higher, along with the option of choosing inclusive hospitality packages with transfers and tickets. CoSport is also handling sales for the 2014 Paralympic Games in Sochi.

That’s about it. If you are planning to attend, my advice is move sooner rather than later as official tickets sales were never discounted below to the opening price for London, and the widest and best selection of events and seats is right now. Full schedule and additional details are available at the Official Sochi Olympic Games site.

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